There was a recent thread on the SF board from a CH who wanted to mail order it or somehow get it. One of his arguments in favor of the dish is that sharks are dangerous animals who eat us so why shouldn't we eat (part of) them and let them die. This did not seem to be an Asian person and no amount of persuading ever changed his mind.

I read (here?) that sharks rarely or never actually eat humans. They bite thinking it's food, don't like the taste and leave. I believe I also read that the majority of the sharks being killed aren't even aggressive ones.

But it's good news and, on the environment front, I'll take any good news that comes along.

A surfer in a wetsuit resembles a delicious seal, until the first bite. Adult tiger sharks will snack on people, and they are common in the Indian Ocean and are the reason why diving at the Great Barrier Reef is done on the inside of the reef where most sharks are juveniles. Further south around Brisbane's Gold Coast, swimming areas are protected by KM's of nets.

What logic! "I reject reality and substitute my own."Although I am generalizing here, I can say from what I've read and experienced that many in Asian countries don't hold animal lives to the standards we tend to. Although I'm speaking from a poor, 3rd world stand point and shark fin soup tends to be for the rich...

Is it that dang Chinese medicine that keeps this afloat? Alongside bears slaughtered for just their bladders, sea horses crumbled into powder, Etc

Sorry, were you replying to me? If so, I sincerely don't understand what you're saying. I reject shark finning because it #1 is decimating the shark population. Some records show that 100 million sharks a year are killed for their fins. This dimunition is in sharks, which can lead to extinction, is causing a major upheaval in the food chain. The fact that I hate to see a whole animal killed in order to keep a tiny fraction of that animal is certainly A factor but not THE factor.